Anglo-French Wars

ELIQUENT Life Sciences Announces Steve Purtell as Chief Financial Officer

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, January 11, 2024

ELIQUENT Life Sciences, a global regulatory consulting firm for the life sciences industry, today announced the appointment of Steve Purtell as its new chief financial officer (CFO).

Key Points: 
  • ELIQUENT Life Sciences, a global regulatory consulting firm for the life sciences industry, today announced the appointment of Steve Purtell as its new chief financial officer (CFO).
  • View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240111611119/en/
    Steve Purtell - Chief Financial Officer, ELIQUENT Life Sciences (Photo: Business Wire)
    “Steve’s appointment comes at a pivotal moment for ELIQUENT.
  • As we unify the five Validant Group companies and expand our global footprint, Steve’s leadership and financial expertise will play a critical role in our continued growth,” said Tim Dietlin, Chief Executive Officer, ELIQUENT Life Sciences.
  • Steve joined ELIQUENT Life Sciences following more than 10 years at Six Flags, where he served in several finance-related roles, including Interim CFO.

New book 'What Are You Going to Do?' shares inspiring story of Everett Swanson and the founding of Compassion International

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, January 10, 2024

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- This January, a new book entitled "What Are You Going to Do?" shares the inspiring true story of Everett Swanson and the humble beginnings of the global Christian ministry Compassion International.

Key Points: 
  • shares the inspiring true story of Everett Swanson and the humble beginnings of the global Christian ministry Compassion International.
  • Everett Swanson flew from Chicago to South Korea to minister to American troops fighting in the Korean War.
  • Broken by the plight of these children, Swanson was faced with a question: "What are you going to do?"
  • Santiago 'Jimmy' Mellado, president and CEO of Compassion, shares, "Reverend Everett Swanson unexpectedly became a world-changer.

Scramble for the Sahel – why France, Russia, China and the United States are interested in the region

Retrieved on: 
Monday, January 8, 2024

In the last decade, issues such as terrorism, insecurity and trafficking have characterised the region.

Key Points: 
  • In the last decade, issues such as terrorism, insecurity and trafficking have characterised the region.
  • Military takeovers have been a major source of concern in the region and beyond in the last few years.
  • This is because Niger was seen as a “darling of the west” and a model for democratic governance in the region.
  • The main actors in this scramble are the European Union, France, Russia, China and the United States.


availability of natural resources
strategic location of the region in Africa
economic interests of the countries involved in the scramble
defence and security cooperation in the form of arms sales.
Foreign powers all have their reasons to be involved in the scramble for the Sahel.

France

  • Unlike Britain, France has maintained strong links with former colonies.
  • Despite these cracks, France is keen to maintain its grip on these countries, especially pertaining to military cooperation and resource extraction.
  • France was reluctant to pull its military out of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger despite the countries severing military partnerships.

Russia

  • More recently, the emphasis by western countries on human rights, especially during counterterrorism operations, has pushed Sahelian countries closer to Russia.
  • While western allies demand the rule of law, democracy, and human rights in return for security and economic support, Russia portrays itself differently.
  • Furthermore, the Wagner group, the controversial private military company which is controlled by Russia, cooperates with some countries in the Sahel.

China

  • Like Russia, China portrays itself as an alternative to the traditional ally (France) of Sahelian countries.
  • With a mantra of “non-interference” and “respecting sovereignty”, China has entrenched itself as a “partner” of countries in the Sahel.
  • China is keen to use the conflicts in the Sahel to test its arms products.

The United States

  • A year before that, I had written about the security implications of the base for the region.
  • Unlike France and China, which both have extensive economic interests in the Sahel, the US has a strong military interest.
  • Niger, in particular, is strategically located and the US can easily fly surveillance and reconnaissance drones from the country to cover the Sahel, west and central Africa.


Olayinka Ajala does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

World Trade Map Being Redrawn as Global Growth Slows and Regional Links Deepen

Retrieved on: 
Monday, January 8, 2024

"Global trade is shifting and the once-familiar map is being redrawn," said Nikolaus Lang , managing director and senior partner, global leader of BCG's Global Advantage practice, and a coauthor of the report.

Key Points: 
  • "Global trade is shifting and the once-familiar map is being redrawn," said Nikolaus Lang , managing director and senior partner, global leader of BCG's Global Advantage practice, and a coauthor of the report.
  • The research highlights five emerging global trade dynamics that will characterize the world in the coming decade:
    China Trade Dynamics.
  • Persistent trade tensions and increasing "managed trade" between China and the West are causing West-China trade to decelerate.
  • The projected fall-off in US-China trade is one of the most significant developments in the updated global trade map, with 2032 trade value forecast to fall by $197 billion from its 2022 level.

US Supreme Court decision on Trump-Colorado ballot case 'monumental' for democracy itself, not just 2024 presidential election

Retrieved on: 
Saturday, January 6, 2024

Momentous questions for the U.S. Supreme Court and momentous consequences for the country are likely now that the court has announced it will decide whether former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump is eligible to appear on the Colorado ballot.

Key Points: 
  • Momentous questions for the U.S. Supreme Court and momentous consequences for the country are likely now that the court has announced it will decide whether former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump is eligible to appear on the Colorado ballot.
  • The court’s decision to consider the issue comes in the wake of Colorado’s highest court ruling that Trump had engaged in insurrection and therefore was barred from appearing on the state’s GOP primary ballot by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
  • Maine’s secretary of state also barred Trump from the state’s primary ballot, and more than a dozen other states are also considering similar moves.
  • It’s the first time it has kept a presidential candidate off the ballot, much less a former one and the apparent frontrunner for the Republican Party nomination.
  • This was an extraordinary major decision from the Colorado Supreme Court.
  • I think the decision to grant only Trump’s case is a decision to make this as streamlined a process as possible.
  • Will whatever decision the court makes put to rest the ballot access questions in all the other states?
  • Those are months when the court is in recess, and they would have to come back from their summer vacation early.
  • They’ve scheduled oral argument on Feb. 8, 2024 so they want to move on as quickly as possible to put this to rest.
  • The two general points are that I think states have the power to judge the qualifications of presidential candidates and keep them off the ballot.
  • And states have done that over the years to say if you were born in Nicaragua, or you’re 27 years old, we’re going to keep you off the ballot.
  • You can look throughout history, going back to the 1890s, where ineligible candidates’ names have been printed and put on the ballot.
  • And we know that there’s Super Tuesday the first Tuesday of March when a significant number of states hold presidential primaries.


I filed an amicus brief on my own behalf in support of neither party in the Colorado Supreme Court.

70 years after Brown vs. Board of Education, public schools still deeply segregated

Retrieved on: 
Friday, January 5, 2024

At the time of the 1954 ruling, 17 U.S. states had laws permitting or requiring racially segregated schools.

Key Points: 
  • At the time of the 1954 ruling, 17 U.S. states had laws permitting or requiring racially segregated schools.
  • With Brown, the justices overturned decades of legal precedent that kept Black Americans in separate and unequal schools.
  • As a professor of education and demography at Penn State University, I research racial desegregation and inequality in K-12 schools.

Recent setbacks

  • The decision followed the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated racial inequalities in the U.S.
  • Meanwhile, politicians and school boards have banned or removed books by authors of color from school libraries and restricted teaching about racism in U.S. history.
  • I believe these legal setbacks amid the current political climate make finally realizing the full promise of Brown more urgent.

Resistance to Brown ruling

  • The Brown vs. Board of Education decision did not immediately change the nation’s public schools, especially in the completely segregated South, where there was massive resistance to desegregation.
  • Resistance was so fierce in the first decade after Brown that compliance with desegregation orders at times required federal troops to escort Black students to enroll in formerly all-white schools.


While only 2% of Southern Black K-12 students attended majority white schools in 1964 – 10 years after Brown – the number had grown to 33% by 1970. The South surpassed all other regions in desegregation progress for Black students.

Segregation persists

  • At the time of Brown, about 90% of students were white and most other students were Black.
  • Today, according to a 2022 federal report, 46% of public school students are white, 28% are Hispanic, 15% are Black, 6% Asian, 4% multiracial and 1% American Indian.
  • Based on my analysis of 2021 federal education data, public schools in 22 states and Washington, D.C., served majorities of students of color.
  • In 2021, approximately 60% of Black and Hispanic public school students attended schools where 75% or more of students were students of color.

Benefits of diversity


While Brown was an attempt to address the inequality that students experienced in segregated Black schools, the harms of segregation affect students of all races. Racially integrated schools are associated with reduced prejudice, enhanced critical thinking or simply building cross-racial friendships that teach children how to work effectively with others.
White students are the least exposed to students of other races and ethnicities, and therefore they often miss out on the benefits of diversity. Nearly half of white public school students attend a school in which white students are 75% or more of the student body.

Factors that exacerbate segregation

  • How those boundaries are drawn or redrawn can exacerbate or alleviate school segregation.
  • A high level of income and racial segregation also exists between neighboring school districts.
  • And district secession – when schools leave an existing school district to form a new district – is linked to higher segregation.
  • One study found that areas with more students enrolled in charter schools were associated with higher school segregation.

Potential solutions

  • For the rest of the country, voluntary integration efforts are attempts to finally achieve the goals of the Brown decision.
  • Finally, since reducing residential segregation could also reduce school segregation, some efforts have combined school desegregation and housing integration policies.


Erica Frankenberg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

How religion and politics will mix in 2024 – three trends to track

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, January 3, 2024

Religion is likely to play a big role in voters’ choices in the 2024 presidential election – much as it did in previous years.

Key Points: 
  • Religion is likely to play a big role in voters’ choices in the 2024 presidential election – much as it did in previous years.
  • Despite an overall shift away from participation in organized religion in the U.S. populace, religious rhetoric in the political arena has intensified.
  • In the 2016 race, evangelical voters contributed, in part, to Republican nominee Donald Trump’s victory.
  • Historical evidence can help identify trends that will likely influence the mix of religion and politics in the year ahead.

1. End-times rhetoric

  • End-times rhetoric has long played a prominent role in American politics.
  • Ever since Puritan John Winthrop first called America a “city on the hill” – meaning a shining example for the world to follow – the threat of losing that divinely appointed status has consistently been employed by presidential candidates.
  • John F. Kennedy employed that exact image of the “city on the hill” in a 1961 speech on the cusp of his inauguration, claiming that – with “God’s help” – valor, integrity, dedication and wisdom would define his administration.
  • By March 2023, at the annual gathering of the Conservative Political Action Conference, he predicted that “if they [Democrats] win, we no longer have a country.” Biden has likewise drawn on the image of final battles.
  • In a speech at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall on Sept. 1, 2022, he said that he and his supporters are in “a battle for the soul of this nation.”

2. Divine mandate

  • Since the establishment of the republic, many U.S. political leaders have claimed a divine mandate.
  • Scholars have long documented how those in power employ claims of divine authority to legitimize their role in a host of different countries.
  • Recently, some U.S. politicians and public commentators have shifted to claiming divine authority for anti-democratic actions.
  • Regardless of the outcome of the 2024 election, the switch from historical claims of divine authority for democracy to divine authority to challenge democracy is already obvious and apparent.

3. White supremacy and Christian nationalism

  • Likewise, the unapologetically white supremacist “alt-right movement” that coalesced in 2010 around the philosophies of biological racism and the belief in the superiority of white peoples around the world have likewise mixed overt white supremacy with religious doctrines.
  • This close connection between religious claims and white supremacy among overtly racist organizations has shown up in mainline political arenas as well.
  • Evangelical leaders have consistently failed to condemn or disassociate themselves from leaders with overt white supremacy connections.
  • In spring of 2023, 26 members of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee refused to sign a letter denouncing white supremacy.


Tobin Miller Shearer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

My favourite fictional character: George Smiley is unattractive, overweight, a terrible dresser – and a better spy than James Bond

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Pierce Brosnan was equally great in GoldenEye – James Bond careening through the streets of St Petersburg astride a tank.

Key Points: 
  • Pierce Brosnan was equally great in GoldenEye – James Bond careening through the streets of St Petersburg astride a tank.
  • These films also served as a visual reminder: the Cold War was a thing of the past.
  • When Lady Ann Sercomb married George Smiley towards the end of the war she described him to her astonished Mayfair friends as breathtakingly ordinary.
  • Published in 1961, this novel ushered into existence the spymaster George Smiley.
  • Read more:
    Friday essay: the secret lives of Ian Fleming and John Le Carré – the spymasters shaped by a lack of parental love

Instantly hooked on an unlikely hero

  • In 2011, Oldman put in a commendable shift as Smiley in the well-received film adaptation.
  • In this iconic novel, Smiley hunts down a thinly fictionalised version of the infamous MI6 double agent, Kim Philby.
  • I was instantly hooked: who was this man, and why describe him this way?
  • This unlikely hero – part bureaucrat, part detective – always gets things done, more often than not in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
  • Read more:
    'The wilderness of mirrors': 70 years since the first James Bond book, spy stories are still blurring fact and fiction

From the Cold War to Brexit


Smiley finds himself in a spot of bother at the start of Call for the Dead.

  • Despite spending much of the novel in hospital, Smiley hatches a brilliant plan and unravels the truth.
  • Moving from the Cold War to the self-inflicted catastrophe of Brexit, Le Carré’s nine Smiley novels paint a remarkably candid – and increasingly melancholic – portrait of a former imperial power in terminal decline.
  • Time you rang down the curtain on yesterday’s cold warrior.
  • Time you rang down the curtain on yesterday’s cold warrior.
  • Read more:
    What's a cold war?

George Smiley is James Bond’s reality check

  • However, in marked contrast to Le Carré, Fleming rails against the reality of Britain’s diminished status as a world power in the wake of the second world war.
  • This, in turn, helps us understand the enduring appeal of George Smiley.
  • Smiley is an Abbey, made up different periods, fashions, and even different religions, not all of them necessarily harmonious.
  • Smiley is an Abbey, made up different periods, fashions, and even different religions, not all of them necessarily harmonious.
  • George Smiley, who is slated to appear in a new novel to be written by Le Carré’s son, is a reminder, disguised as fiction, that still waters do indeed run deep.


Alexander Howard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

EQS-News: Why Pulsar Helium has game-changing potential for the US helium industry

Retrieved on: 
Saturday, December 30, 2023

With recent sales of liquid helium exceeding USD $1,000 per thousand cubic feet whereas natural gas is ~USD $4.

Key Points: 
  • With recent sales of liquid helium exceeding USD $1,000 per thousand cubic feet whereas natural gas is ~USD $4.
  • (see below)
    Conclusion: Pulsar is one of a handful of helium explorers looking for primary helium sources that are not linked to natural gas production.
  • Most new helium companies have understandably gone where there were already known helium deposits, identified via natural gas exploration and production.
  • In addition, a consulting or other service contract exists between Pulsar Helium and GOLDINVEST Consulting GmbH, with which a further conflict of interest exists, since Pulsar Helium remunerates GOLDINVEST Consulting GmbH for reporting.

What will you read on the beach this summer? We asked 6 avid readers

Retrieved on: 
Saturday, December 30, 2023

That might be a traditional beach read – typically a genre paperback with a propulsive plot – or an opportunity to catch up on the classics you never got around to during the year.

Key Points: 
  • That might be a traditional beach read – typically a genre paperback with a propulsive plot – or an opportunity to catch up on the classics you never got around to during the year.
  • We asked six experts in reading and writing to share what they plan to read on the beach.

Love and Other Scores by Abra Pressler (and other Australian romantic comedies)

  • The book I’ll be taking to the beach this summer, just in time for the tennis, is one of Pan Macmillan’s latest offerings: Love and Other Scores by Abra Pressler.
  • • Harper Collins published Steph Vizard’s The Love Contract (what if pretending to date your neighbour was the solution to your childcare problems?).
  • • Simon & Schuster published Amy Hutton’s Sit, Stay, Love (the ultimate rom-com for dog people), my own Can I Steal You For A Second?

Three Assassins by Kotaro Isaka

  • With winter receding (David Copperfield, followed by Demon Copperhead), I am looking to what kinds of books might fill my summer, so I’m reading a new-to-me crime/thriller writer, Kotaro Isaka.
  • The novel follows three men who’ve made careers out of hiring themselves as assassins.
  • And best of all, there is a new Kotaro Isaka novel, Mantis, published this month – just in time for the height of summer, under a shady tree by the sea.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and The Flying Doctor’s Christmas Wish by Kathleen Ryder

  • Middlemarch and Moby Dick, and this year will be War and Peace.
  • On a recent trip to central Australia, I met romance fiction author Kathleen Ryder.
  • Her books include Christmas-themed novellas set in Alice Springs, and my pick for this summer is The Flying Doctor’s Christmas Wish.

Skeletons in the Closet by Jean-Patrick Manchette

  • The much-anticipated English translation of the only untranslated novel by the reinventor of dark and darkly witty crime novels, Jean-Patrick Manchette, is the book I most hope to read this summer.
  • Skeletons in the Closet features the hermetic, alcoholic Parisian private eye Eugène Trapon, the only fictional creation of Manchette’s to appear in more than one novel.
  • Trapon is obviously an heir to Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade, but Manchette’s novels are only superficially hard-boiled.

Daisy and Woolf by Michelle Cahill and Between You and Me by Joanna Horton

  • Some books can’t be digested at once, so this summer I will be returning to Daisy and Woolf by Goan-Anglo-Indian poet and author, Michelle Cahill.
  • Also on my list is Between You and Me by Brisbane author, Joanna Horton.

The science fiction of Samuel R. Delany and Babel, or the Necessity of Violence by R.F. Kuang

  • This summer, I’m aiming to dive deeper into the works of Samuel R. Delany, who was memorably profiled in the New Yorker earlier this year.
  • Delany is most commonly associated with the New Wave science fiction movement of the 60s and 70s, but his writing spans a fascinating range of genres and subjects.
  • I’ve also wanted to read Babel, or the Necessity of Violence by R.F.
  • Beth Driscoll receives funding from ARC Linkage Project grant LP210300666 Community Publishing in Regional Australia Liz Evans' debut novel will be published by Ultimo Press in 2024.
  • Michelle Cahill is the current Hedberg Writer-in-Residence at the University of Tasmania.